this needs to stop

When teens act impulsively they must deal with the consequences, having a child is so much responsibility that many teens cannot take on. Adolescents under the age of eighteen should not be able to have babies. There not it the right financial stage nor ready to have such responsibility, they will suffer, there grandparents will suffer and most importantly the children will suffer

Overpopulation is a global crisis because there will be a struggle for food in the near future if the world gets too populated.

I believe that overpopulation is indeed a global crisis. This is because as the world gets more populated, the food supply must increase to support the newborns. I think that once the world has reached its limits, the fittest will survive and the developing countries will fail to support their people with food, causing mass starvation all around. Overpopulation also causes less jobs to be available around the globe, and thus causes families to struggle hard and live on the streets.

Supply and Demand

If considered somewhat like a commodity, the supply of humans and their labor will cause wages to fall. The majority of the world's people cannot find jobs that pay a decent wage today. The increasing oversupply of workers in agriculture and industry is especially troublesome. Simplistic opposing arguments are typically related to the classic "more people increases demand for goods and services, which creates more jobs. However, if that idea were valid then we would not have nearly a billion people living in slums unable to earn more than a dollar a day.

Peace is not possible with an overpopulated world

Too many people means to many uncontrolled mess and chaos.The world cannot live in peace with overpopulation.It is better for this world to decrease the human population so it's more controllable and can live in peace. Like a fresh new start.An overpopulated world will simply destruct itself.

YES unless we fix it.

One immense issue having to do with the environment is overpopulation. There are approximately 490,000 babies born every day worldwide and increases every day because of the cycle it creates (more people, more babies). Since birth has been perfected by doctors and scientists and researchers amazingly have found many cures to sicknesses and diseases more people are living longer. Overpopulation affects the demand for materials. The planet is having an increasingly tough time getting by with the high demand for resources and materials. Because nearly 80 million people are added to the planet every year a healthy future does not look very good unless we change our demand for materials and materials that can be recycled. The higher demand for materials and food calls for more packaging and more use of land to grow crops or build factories which is eliminating rural areas.

Overpopulation is destroying the natural environment, exhausting resources, and putting societies at risk of collapse.

For anyone who thinks the continuous growth of the human population on Earth is nothing to be concerned about, I suggest you read Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jare Diamond. The book reminds us that many advanced civilizations came before us, grew greatly in population and complexity, and then collapsed. Diamond identifies five factors that led to past collapses, the most significant being environmental damage and how a society responds to its environmental problems. In every case, the parallel growth of population and demand for natural resources led to environmental destruction. Today, we have a world population over 7 billion that has increased demand for food, water, fossil fuels, electricity, not to mention a vast array of non-essential products, to an extent that is mind boggling. Diamond points out that China, although still a developing nation, is growing wealthier and its population desires a firstworld standard of living. And yet, if over a billion people converted to first world rates of consumption the demand for resources would far surpass supply.. Nature will not be able to provide.

The eruption of population

Everyone is aware of the fact that 1 billion people are added annually. Human population is growing like never before. There are plethora of discernible drawbacks such as food, energy and water crisis, disboscation, high rate of unemployment, crime and illiteracy, law standard of living. So why can not we call it global crisis?

Overpopulation is wrong

In the cause of overpopulation is mainly because of all the babies born so I say stop having babies as often as we are. Overpopulation does mega damage to our economy such as pollution because of all the new factories made for making baby milk and all the artificial flavorings in food, it also means more ambulances built in factories.

Global human population and consumption are simultaneously increasing without a limit

- Land clearing and habitat destruction - Mass species extinction - we are currently in the sixth mass extinction event on this planet and this one is human induced.- Global warming and climate change - directly affecting massive numbers of species from the microscopic to polar bears. Krill, the basis of the food chain is in trouble. More frequent and more intense natural disasters are just that. The ramifications of rising temperatures are many and varied as we exist in a complex system.- Over fishing of our oceans for human consumption. Land clearing to grow beef...- Human induced disasters increase in our plight for fueling our economy. Fukushima, oil spill disasters....- Money as the foundation of our existence is not at all economical in the true sense of the word. - Nature is viewed as a resource for humans to exploit for the ends of its own species. - The sheer size, lifespan and consumption of each new human being is increasing.- Human beings do not like having limits imposed, to our peril. An internationally sanctioned limit is required to limit population growth. Strategies to manage a global aging population as birth rates stabilize will be necessary. The continual growth paradigm is not sustainable, as the overwhelming body of scientific evidence suggests. Galileo would agree!

The problem is not whether we fit or not on earth.

Although we could all live in the state of Texas, the problem is the amount of resources available and how we consume them. There are not enough resources for the greed of man. While thousands die of hunger every day, others throw away food. While washing your car (30 minutes), over 120 children will die of thirst.

Definite No Brainer

This seems like a no brainer to me. We have a limited amount of space and resources. If the earth's population continues to grow, that space and those resources will be overwhelmed. There is absolutely no amount of planning we can do that will diminish the inevitable suffering, disease, corruption and death this will cause. What's the solution? Less babies. Education needs to be top priority, especially in developing countries. Women with an education have less children.

Overpopulation is the biggest problem the world is facing now and the years to come!

With no natural predators in our environment we stand at the top of the food chain of our planet, which leads to unbounded increase in population limited only by the supply of energy (food) our planet can provide, other modulators are war(self antagonism), disease, and environmental feedback, and the most important and unfortunately the leased applied global scale intelligent population management.First and for most a tremendous population like ours requires as previously mentioned an enormous amount of food which leads to problem #1 food quality is rapidly declining, since the focus of modern farming is on quantity vs quality forced by the need to meet an ever increasing demand for food, clean organic farming on a massive scale is an extreme challenge due to soil depletion and insect and weed control and other factors.. In short we have been fed low quality food for a while now, and quality continues to decline for mass produced foods where good quality food becomes less and less accessible to the ordinary person. Issue #2 our ever increasing numbers lead to loss of human value, where each one of us is less and less important and it's coming to the point where the world with or without you will still be the same, which leads to the moral collapse of our society, we can already see this in extremely overpopulated nations like China and India where people are getting slaughtered for their organs, brutally killed in public with the surrounding crowd staying completely apathetic, and so on.. #3 environmental feedback, and this a direct consequence of the fact that we are nor a simple member of the animal kingdom which requires only food and shelter for its well-being. We require comfort, leisure, quick and efficient transport, medical care, education, the ability to express our creative nature, and many more. All of the above require a considerable amount of resources which come at a great cost to our environment, and as demand increases as a direct consequence to our population increase those resources become ever more difficult to extract whit bigger and bigger environmental consequences, and all of this is not covering the issue of the impact manufacturing and disposal of products has on the biosphere of this planet. #4 with such huge numbers out there we're unable to provide a descent lifestyle for an ever increasing portion of the population, there are bigger and bigger shortage of quality education, medical care and housing. #5 We're spreading over and destroying rapidly the wild life habitats of our world, lets not forget we are not the only spices living on this rock, not to mention we still need a functional biosphere to support our life. #6 technology is rapidly replacing the need for basic human labor which i see as a positive thing, if we bring and stabilize the population to a sustainable level we'll be looking at a new golden age in a few decades.Unfortunately I'm out of space. Thanks for reading!

The world is not infinite

A hundred million people growth every year is not sustainable. If we fit the whole population in Texas, we can't move at all. It's not just about space but resources and what we do to our environment affects us. One main problem is that people are overlooking is the food production through agriculture. Areas on Earth that are habitable and have good food and water resources become overpopulated.

Yes, overpopulation is a crisis.

From global warming to famine and undernourished, extinction of species and lastly the general quality of life, it should be pretty obvious to anyone that overpopulation is affecting everybody. People need to seriously reconsider their needs in regards to reproducing, and governments need to implement strong population policies that address this huge problem.

Global versus Local

Locally all people inside some area can die with no global harm. But from a global death there is no recovery. Overpopulation in a local area does not affect global problems. Global overpopulation is worrisome because it can be related to global death. Planet Earth becomes empty from people for all future if there is a global death.

Nature seems stable to small changes. The eco system has been around for millions of years and has evolved in such a way that small local changes are repaired.

Similar thing with a single human being. We can sun bath for a while and we get small local skin mutations which our immune system can take care of and repair.

Suppose we sun bath for a very long time. Then there may arise a problem locally somewhere on the skin which our body can not repair. It survives and it starts to rapidly spread all over our body and the person dies. A local problem could become global on the whole body because all cells in our body are connected.

We need more farmland to grow crops to support the people. This changes the ecosystem. Farmland is artificially controlled as opposed to the wild nature. The ecosystem is disturbed a liitle by a farmland. A single farmland does not disturb much, but the small disturbances add up. As farmland occupy larger areas of earth, more disturbance is added into the system. Just like a single human is not stable to sun bathing for a sufficiently long time even though shorter times make no harm at all, the global ecosystem on Earth is likely to also have a point where a sudden turn over occurs. Within weeks the whole world population of human beings could be dead.

A concrete picture is of course a virus that spreads between humans creating a pandemy. It does not have to be that. It can be that a super resistant insect we can not kill by any means, is developed through multiple mutations in farmlands which use chemicals to kill insects for decades. This insect has no predators and spreads quickly from one farmland to another throughout the planet, globally. All crops on earth die. When all crops die on huge areas of farmlands, this will create lots of greenhouse gases from rotten grass which changes the atmosphere causing global heating.

The point is that probably there is a point where a second order phase transitition occurs. But we don't know where this point lies. It may be right around the corner or it may be very far away.

My guess is that it may not be so very far away. Once humans started to get global control on Earth I think we took a step into a very dangerous zone.

Reducing population is key to increasing human prosperity

It is self-evident that the fewer people we have to share the planet's bounty with, the more of that bounty there is for each person - not to mention the more that bounty can be shared with other species cohabiting the earth.

There is just no advantage in mega populations such as we now endure. Only less to go round. At some point, we will, with unconstrained population increase, eventually exceed both the carrying capacity of the biosphere, and the 'standing room only' capacity of the planet's land and seas.

Population growth has to stop (ie, be stopped by nature!) at some (highly unpleasant!) future time, so why let things get so bad till then?

Stopping population growth is painless and easy - so why don't we do it? Incentivise steady-state reproduction (one replacement child per person) and penalise larger families (adults who don't want children can sell their 'child option' to another adult who wants more than a replacement child!)

BUT, no government is ever in favour of not increasing the population - for more people mean more tax revenues, and that is all government want. That's why all governments want immigration - so they can tax immigrants.

Overpopulation is destroying the earth

The environment is being destroyed. Not enough food for people in some countries. Water becoming harder to come by. Wild animals are becoming extinct because their habitats are being destroyed. Cities are becoming overcrowded. Pollution is a big problem. Viruses are increasing and antibiotics are losing their power. Viruses are become rife in big cities and people are getting sicker in cities.

Trimming the herd

The advancement of life extending medical treatments, better overall health, unchecked birth rates in developing nations, and the containment of natural diseases, plagues, and even large scale wars are all contributing to a global population explosion. Check any graph in population and its growth rate up until about 1950 had seen steady but only nominal growth; then the world population went from about 2B to now over 7B in just 60 years.

At this rate, in the next 10-20 years will see global population extend beyond 10B people. I'm not a fatalist, but rather a pragmatist thinking that with all the global starvation we seemingly hear about, doesn't seem to curb birth rates. The absence of a global large scale war, and all its atrocities like that of World War II, where over 10 million men, mostly, perished. Though that seemingly is a small number, it only curbed the coming global birth rate for a few years when the baby boom generation in America, but also throughout the world seemed to have occurred.

I just don't see how the human race will be able to sustain itself over time without two possibilities helping it: 1) a natural or unnatural enhancement of the human body both physically and intellectual growth and 2) a systematic or catastrophic series events that cull the human herd.

The last such event was the Mount Toba volcano eruption about 75,000 years ago is said to have been so catastrophic in its effects on the environment, that it reduced the human population as much as by 50% or more worldwide. I may be inaccurate on the percentage having not looked this up to confirm, but if memory serves, it wiped out a large percentage of the worldwide human population.

Imagine a world where with say 50% of the current world population that was healthier and more intelligent - like the Renaissance period that followed the black plague - ala Dan Brown's Inferno references; would that be so bad if it sustains the human race. Or, if the population continues to grow unchecked and unabated for the next 50 years, global resources declining; what is your vision of the human race at that point?

The Root of all Evil.

Overpopulation can be traced as the cause of most, if not all global dilemmas that we face today. This problem is gaining so much so that even technology cannot keep up with it. Our i-phone, i-this, and i-that is not evidence that technological advancement is focused on and that it is heading towards finding a solution for this sadly overlooked yet absolutely impertinent issue.

It's not a question of people per square mile...

It's a problem because of limited natural resources, an reliance on technology to do our work for us (would we gather for ourselves if technology failed us?) and one simple, irrefutable fact - all human beings have at least some degree of greed, which would only be exacerbated in the face of an impending threat to the survival of them and those they love.

Yes, Overpopulation is Global Crisis

Following the trend of population increase, a billion in approximately a decade, we will be at 10 billion by approximately 2035. Hence every decade we have a billion more mouth to feed, land that is destroyed to built houses but lower the food production; therefore we will have bout a billion hungry mouths we cannot feed... Poverty will fuse revolts, unthinkable crimes, wars, diseases.... War for existence will be the one to kill the humanity it self.... Unless the great leaders of the world decide to see it as a global crisis and gather the forces to find a solution before it's too late.

Overpopulation is the greatest threat next to climate change.

Human overpopulation is the most detrimental threat to the earth because, people in agriculture such as farmers have always been able to exploit the resources to get the maximum out of them but now increasingly they are starting to see great strain on this. We are reaching the limits of our use environment. One resource that is particularly running low is the fundamental building block for all life. Fresh water. Out of the total water on the earth only two percent is fresh and of that only 1 percent is able to be used the rest locked up as parts of gasses or as ice in the polar caps. Humans use half of all the available fresh water yet many still can’t find enough. Today over 1 billion people lack access if they have any to clean and safe drinking water and as the population grows so will the number of people living in these conditions. Within the next 20 years it’s expected that approximately half the world’s population will be living in regions of high water strain. This is also due to the fact that the world’s deserts are spreading with approximately one quarter of the world’s population living in desert conditions of one form or another.

Yeah Its a Problem

more and more criminals, drug addicts, and retards are being born every year due to overpopulation. the more people in the world means the more demanding society is. when it comes to food we will not have enough unless we become canibals. people are going to run out of recources in what did 'Blueviking' say? only Hundreds of years? id like humanity to last thousads of years

People > resources

The first thing people refuting overpopulation think when presented with this argument is how there's plenty of land. This is a misunderstanding of the problem of overpopulation, as the issue doesn't lie with square footage, but with a lack of resources. The Earth doesn't have enough as it is to even feed everyone without help from genetically engineered crops. Statistics back this up three fold. Enough is enough.

Resources won't last

Each year our population increases greatly but with that the demand for food, oil, electricity increases with it. Our farmers work hard to respond to that demand but it won't be long before there won't be enough food to feed half of us if we continue to grow. Not just this but everyday we destroy more of our forests, rainforests ect to provide housing for us but in the process we are destroying animals habitats as well. I predict that by 2050 our population will be so large that there will be no more habitat for animals, the world will be so polluted it will almost be inhabitable, food will become scarce and there won't be enough fresh water to survive. We NEED to do SOMETHING TODAY before our population is out of control.

Only through inefficient resource usage

The concept of a city results in practices of resource draining to support areas which dont provide for themsleves by design. Agreed its not a simple condition of humans on the earth, but how we deal with shortages, manage our resources and effectively put back into the earth what we take out of it.

Should things go on as is which is an entirely disposable culture, we are far overpopulated. Look at China's current struggle to normalize rural areas to city areas. If everyone wants a microwave, mobile phone and refrigerator, were all in trouble. Their mass populace still lives in two centuries previous by western standards. Hence why they are front running in the solar energy world because their coal burning is by far not scalable (even though its actually the cheapest).

Problems are huge ships on the horizon, its small at the moment, but when its close you simply cannot get out of it''s path.

Yes

Overpopulation affects a few countries in a few areas, but the question is if overpopulation is a problem for the world, not if the world is overpopulated. overpopulated countries like India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, etc create huge strains on available basic resources that people depend on. When these overpopulated countries start failing to sustain its own population, it could lead to famines and even wars to fight over resources. There are several countries in Africa where access to clean water is a huge issue, and if overpopulation gets worse, it could lead to wars over control of water resources.

Overpopulation affects a few nations but can have global implications if it isnt curtailed.

There is only so much room on this earth, and having too many people is a crisis.

It is a global crisis of overpopulation. The natural checks and balances of nature will begin to overload. We are living longer in western societies, plus people are having more and more children. It is going to make for a weird situation, coming up in a few years or so, especially with the shortage of jobs in the current economy.

Overpopulation is the reason that so many resources are being depleted, worldwide.

The population is growing exponentially and the world is not able to handle this growth. Most of this is due to our practices in harvesting resources and how we grow our food. If were to change our practices, so that we lived in a sustainable way, the population would not be an issue. It is also questionable, if we lived in a sustainable fashion, if the population would be to the point that it is, worldwide.

Yes, I agree that overpopulation is a serious crisis, because we are all affected by it.

Worldwide overpopulation is a rapidly growing crisis that affects everyone, as a whole. Prices of all products go up, living quarters go down, and thee are more people living on government support, as a result. I don't want to sound racial, but more minorities are entering this country, and a high number illegally, and it is just a hard area to control. The Discovery Channel is great in educating about this issue.

In some places, there is a severe overpopulation problem.

In places such as India and China, in the cities, the population is out of control. I think some of the governments are really stepping in and trying to control this as best they can, however there is always more that can be done when talking about such a large scale problem.

Overpopulation #2 After Climate Change

60% of arable farm land on the planet is over-stressed (that is, losing nutrients, losing top soil). 90% of farm land that is irrigated is done so from fossil aquifers that are not permitted time to recharge (this is on the order of decades for every year of draw down). 2/3 of the planet does not receive the nutrition that is required, and if it did, we'd require another 4 Earths to provide them (we're already using 3 Earths in farm land). If Overpopulation as a problem is to be eliminated then we must produce food in greenhouses (expensive) which means that the population must earn more in income (expensive) which means higher productivity (not possible with capitalism) and we must obtain resources from space (expensive). So the entire planet needs to earn considerably higher incomes than present to produce sufficient food in a sustainable way. Incidentally, I have a Ph.D. in Ecosystems Management from U of G.

Yes, I agree that overpopulation is a global crisis.

If you look at the world, people are like parasites on a larger scale. We take and take from this planet and at some point it will die. Just like an animal that has hookworms, the food that they consume is never given to the host; it is used by the worms to feed themselves.

Yes, world overpopulation is at a crisis level, because of resource limitations, disease, etc.

The main reason why the world population should be considered at crisis level is that we are consuming the earth's resources at a breakneck pace. Besides the inability to produce enough crops to assure that no one goes hungry, we are using up non-renewable resources like fossil fuels, and wiping out rain forests, animal species, etc.

Extreme overpopulation is absolutely becoming a global crisis, as it both increases pollution and hastens the expenditure of natural resources.

As mammals go, humans are the most dangerous, wasteful, and needy ever known. We're also the most aggressively invasive species in existence. Where some such species can be catastrophic to a rodent or bird or bug population, we destroy entire ecosystems to make room for ourselves and our possessions. In addition, we've even begun to devalue ourselves by the principle of supply and demand. We're in too great supply and too low demand, and so are each worth far less than our sense of superiority calls for. This has driven us all to worry less about ethics, and maintaining a balance with nature; has driven us to the level of rats in a race--as the adage goes. Each man worries almost solely about himself, fighting desperately to be of any real worth at all, the vast majority failing miserably, and all-the-while ignoring any negative impact he's had.

Yes I agree that overpopulation a global crisis since this is leading to global warming, inflation and many other issues.

Yes I agree that overpopulation a global crisis since it is leading to shortage of resources and price rise. Overpopulation is the root cause of several other issues like global warming, shortage of natural resources, food crisis thereby resulting in worldwide inflation and price rise. If this situation persists there will be increase in crimes and disrupt world peace.

I am completely agree with this sentence. Overpopulation causes living problems, dropping standard of living; income per head also gets reduced. Overpopulation also causes unhealthy environment because of the cutting down of forests and trees.

China and India is a good example for overpopulation. The major industrial product cost reduction is done by taking more and more work from humans, and they get minimum wages for their work.

Absolutely, overpopulation and the accompanying culture of materialism will destroy the earth.

Population is growing at an alarming rate along with the corporate worldview of tapping into all the developing countries as markets for more unnecessary things. We simply can't support a materialistic culture and an expanding population. All natural resources will be used up, pollution will magnify, waste and garbage generated alone will overcome the environment. And, the earth cannot feed an infinite number of people.

Overpopulation is a global crisis in terms of humanitarian efforts and economy.

Overpopulation is a global crisis because it affects even those countries with moderate populations in terms of economic impact and the amount of humanitarian aid that is demanded of them. Every increase in population regardless of location means a rise in costs for every nation to absorb as global resources are stretched thinner.

I agree that overpopulation is a global crisis as it impacts us all directly or indirectly.

Overpopulation impacts the globe. Declining resources, inadequate distribution and over population is a major crisis that impacts us all and should be addressed by all nations. Many of the problems associated with overpopulation could be addressed with better distribution of resources from developed into developing countries. Countries like the US has a surplus of many products, much of which ends up as waste. If this could be redistributed the impact of overpopulation would be somewhat minimized.

The earth is full

Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Paul Gilding suggests we have, and the possibility of devastating consequences, in a talk that's equal parts terrifying and, oddly, hopeful
"It takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss we are capable of quite extraordinary things.” (Paul Gilding)

THe resources of the world

There are plenty of resources to sustain the species for more than enough time for the species to develop alternatives IF we stop breeding. Some families are having 18 kids and are not working, instead choosing to sponge off the state, while others work hard to earn enough but feel its irresponsible to bear children and contribute to the consumption society. When will the governments of the world pull their heads out of the sand and broach this problem?

Overpopulation is definitely a crisis

Although some people believe it is only a myth, the truth is that humans will need to continue to build homes and eventually we will run out of good places to live. Overpopulation is part of the cause of global warming, diseases, resource depletion and sometimes violence due to the need of space. It is a problem.

Overpopulation why it sucks.

Our world is way too over populated!!!!!! There are 5 people born and 2 people die every second!!! Overpopulation is something the government needs to think of and try to stop....Well people need to be more aware of how many people there are on the world..... I'm not saying to stop, just slow down.

Yes, overpopulation is a crisis.

From global warming to famine and undernourishment, extinction of species and lastly the general quality of life, it should be pretty obvious to anyone that overpopulation is affecting everybody. People need to seriously reconsider their needs in regards to reproducing, and governments need to implement strong population policies that address this huge problem.

Overpopulation is the apocalypse of the future.

Overpopulation is the apocalypse of the future. That is not to say that it is not a problem of outstanding proportions at the present time. The third world countries are already suffering from too little food and famine is the end result. The answer of too little food is being approached with food modification techniques which are not acceptable to a large percentage of the population. And certainly the methods to control population in some countries has failed and never legitimized.

Overpopulation is a global crisis.

I have done no research on this topic and have not yet read the article that follows but have a strong feeling that overpopulation is causing many more problems than people want to believe. I understand the happiness and good that technology and modern medicine have on peoples lives such as treating illness, helping people live longer, and having children when they could not have them naturally. On the other hand I think it is wrong to a certain degree, leading to overpopulation which is a huge problem. I do not want children as a result of this. I want to put a certain amount of money away and help educate people in my town (I live in South Africa). We are burning up petrol, fuel, and oil and have become switched off to the numbers of people suffering as a result of no work, education or food. In Africa people are flushing their babies down toilets and starving to death because there are no resources etc. If there were less people in these countries, a better government and more money they would not have these problems. I was one of the first 100 babies in SA conceived because of artificial insemination and have always had a happy and healthy upbringing but I do not believe in this method because nature says my parents should not have had children. I think it's wrong. People need to change this ridiculous mindset that having children is so important, it's not. We were not all meant to have children.

Africa shows that it is a crisis.

I have done no research on this topic and have not yet read the article that follows, but have a strong feeling that overpopulation is causing many more problems than people want to believe. I understand the happiness and good effects that technology and modern medicine have on peoples lives, such as treating illness, helping people live longer and having children when they could not have them naturally.

On the other hand I think it is wrong to a certain degree, leading to overpopulation which is a huge problem. I do not want children as a result of this. I want to put a certain amount of money away and help educate people in my town .I live in South Africa. We are burning up petrol, fuel and oil and have become switched off to the numbers of people suffering as a result of no work, education or food. In Africa people are flushing their babies down toilets and starving to death because there are no resources. If there were fewer people in these countries, a better government and more money they would not have these problems.

I was one of the first 100 babies in SA conceived because of artificial insemination and have always had a happy and healthy upbringing, but I do not believe in this method because nature says my parents should not have had children. Just like so many other children born as a result of medicine, I think it's wrong. People need to change this ridiculous mind set that having children is so important. It's not. We were not all meant to have children.

I did not put forward a very good argument. I just thought I would type what's on my mind when I read the question. Julia

Yes, unless we decide to change.

Declining resources, species loss, and increasing poverty, misery and suffering face us. Our population has mushroomed from 1 billion to 7 billion on the back of fossil fuels—non-renewable resources. We cannot support 7 billion—let alone 9 or 10 billion—on renewable energies and resources. Our innovation has been in the realm of bits—not matter—and this will not be enough to solve the material shortages we are facing.

It is because everyday many are being born and neglected and the world is getting too demanding.

Too many people are alive today than 100 years ago and that is making it very hard to supply everyone with goods and support. So many people are becoming stressed out with how the economies around the world are too much to keep up and it is making it extremely hard to pay bills. Advanced technology is getting expensive for people to pay for.

Overpopulation is a global problem because it affects the availability of the earth's resources all over the planet.

The more people there are, the more resources are needed to feed, clothe and shelter them. If a country or region cannot support itself because of environmental or other reasons then the burden falls on the rest of the world to help them, putting strain on those resources. To accept that those people should be left to their own devices is unacceptable. Without effort to provide and develop sustainable resources, food and energy, this will eventually cause hardship for all people.

Because of medical science, population is growing at an unnatural rate.

The population of the world is growing at an unnaturally increased rate because medical science has increased life expectancy and people that would have died naturally at an early age or by disease live longer. In the past, diseases often wiped out a vast amount of the population and was the earth's way of reducing its burden but that doesn't work any longer.

I believe that rapid overpopulation is the reason for many of our global problems.

In the past 30 or so years, the world population has exploded. It's currently slowing down, but in many areas, like Africa, it is still increasing at a rapid rate. The population has grown faster than technology and government has. Countries have a lot of people on their hands that they don't know what to do. When the population is growing faster than the number of jobs growing or how much food you can produce, problems will occur.

I believe overpopulation is going to be a big problem in the future

Overpopulation is going to be a big problem in the future. It will be a struggle to produce enough food when we keep wiping out farmland for housing and industrial development. We are destroying forest's that depletes our oxygen supply and filters our air. It is common since. We are clearing the land to make room for what? An exploding population.

It is a necessary element to our eventual and inevitable extinction.

Without a reduction in human population we are doomed. Our species will eventually destroy all means of its own survival. The idea that the earth can sustain 7 plus billion people is dangerously absurd. If we want to survive, we should be actively engaged in negative population growth so that; over the course of a few hundred years, the human population will be a small fraction of it's current number. Our current model for society as a competition would have to be abandoned and replaced with one of cooperation and compassion. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening. So good-bye human race!

Population control needed

There are already too many of us. Those living where overcrowding is not yet a crisis use a tremendous amount of resources, so the problem is not limited to certain areas. It's the progression, the rate of growth that is nearly unfathomable. Population control awareness and incentives are needed desperately.

Overpopulation in China

It is a global crisis because of how it is effecting the waterways and the air and/or the light of China. They need to make a limit on how many people can live in China it also has an effect on the water. In China the have a water shortage because the water is polluted by how many people are living there today.

Carbon in the air

With as many people on earth, just about everyone drives a car that puts out carbon emissions. If population keeps growing dramaticly as it is, more drivers, more carbon, faster the ice caps melt. Sea levels rise several feet and next thing you know, half the land is under water. Over population is a huge deal

Our increasing impact exceeds our ability to cope

We are not living idealistically, within our needs, or peacefully. We consume and invest in measurable resources and individually create a substantial amount of waste and toxins. We are in a sense incredibly selfish. We are more likely to war and exploit one other out of greed than to reach any sort of equilibrium that will support and told her each other

It will be a Problem

The first step to fixing a problem is to identify it and then to actually take preventive measures. Though we do have enough land humans do take it for granted and don't even help out organism that are in their own species. We must deal with it or all is lost

It will be a Problem

The first step to fixing a problem is to identify it and then to actually take preventive measures. Though we do have enough land humans do take it for granted and don't even help out organism that are in their own species. We must deal with it or all is lost

To many people and our world will be run down

In this essay you be learn about overpopulation and how it’s bad for the Earth. “The more people we have on Earth, the more resources we use, The increase in resource use for energy changes the way the Earth looks.” Have you ever heard this saying?? It’s trying to tell us that the more people we have here on Earth the more run down the earth will be, We will be running out of resources to the point where there is no food or water left for anyone!! First, if we have too many people there will be less jobs and no-one will be able to make money, Therefore no-one will be able to buy food or water or other resources needed to survive . Access to fresh water will be a major issue of the near future, some two out of three people living on the globe may have problems getting access to enough water. Furthermore, by 2030 half of the world will require more food than they have available and forty-five percent will need more energy. If no progress is made on overpopulation, a third of the world will live in poverty for lack of resources. By 2050 we will need 3 Earth’s to keep up with our population unless we figure out something soon. By 2030 50% of the world will need more Food 45% of the world will need more energy 30% of the world will need more water

Over population is a BIG problem

Its a problem because we cut down forests that we need to make oxygen and for what ? People with 8-9 kids.2) its a problem because the supply and demand of food NOT enough good for everyone.All i want to say is if most of the trees are cut down there would be so little oxygen in this world and WAY to much carbon dixoide on earth and people would starve with no food

Solution is here

Overpopulation is most definitely a problem. I am American and if the population continues to rise so will crime, unemployment, hunger, the list goes on and on. I believe we can slowly fix this problem if our government was to make it mandatory for girls who they turn 13 to get a 5 year IUD birth control. Parent do not want there children to have children before they are ready. Teenagers dont want to have children when they themselves are still children. 89% of teenage pregnancies are unplanned. I believe, with that being said, people wont mind having to be on birth control while still in school. Most girls want to be in birth control but are embarrassed or ashamed to ask their parents.

Yes it is

The more people on this world, means the faster the resources are being used. Frankly we need to find away to slow the use of our resources. So the human race can live a longer and more plentiful life hear on planet earth. Unless we dramatically change our way of life which will not happen.

The problem is natural.

People needs to need more land to live with there familys.So they will come to other lands and there population will be increasing.When we have the solution people will have no place to live ,so we have to have a solution to have a better life in the future.

Its not just space that matters

The amount of resources we use on this planet is unsustainable, and at the current rate of use we will run out, but our population is growing and with it the demand for energy, the larger the population the sooner we will use up our resources and the sooner we will run out of energy, not only this, starvation is rife on our planet already as population further increase this will become a greater and greater issue and millions will die.

Stop saying the earth can support more people.

Population overshoot had been in effect since the early 80s. This means that since then we have been consuming resources faster than we can replace them and producing by-products of industry faster than the earth can absorb them (think fish and CO2). I see no evidence that humans will adapt fast enough to avoid catastrophe. Furthermore, population growth is exponential, meaning that our best hopes for technology saving us from ourselves will certainly fail.

Pollution caused by too many humans is catastophy for the earth

We can fit into the space but unless we are willing to live a prehistoric lifstyle then our excrement , medicines w( many come out in the urine/ faeces), food production methods, transport etc will destroy the planets ecosytem.Only by having less people can we survive as a species and have a reasonable life with good health , space to live and a beautiful planet

Increasing demand for diminishing resources. How couldn't it be?

Global warming, environmental quality, loss of habitat and species, shrinking fresh water supply, food shortages and diminished quality, and troubled oceans are linked to more consuming humans. I believe wealth disparity and decreasing quality of life in ways too complex to discuss here also find their roots in overpopulation. Unfortunately, business interest in market growth, feminist stewardship of reproductive rights and "be fruitful and multiply" cultural and religious beliefs and values create a dangerous concentration to keep the topic out of most public discourse. It becomes politically incorrect to do so.

Anyone who has been around for a few decades and had the good fortune to have grown up near nature in once rural (and now suburban) communities can see what we have lost.

Eats up our resources

I believe this is why there is no cure for cancer. This is a good way to control overpopulation. If our leaders really wanted a cure they would get together with other world leaders and find a cure. Our governments do not have the resources to help so many people.

Over Population is a bad thing

I've read through most of the no answers and realized that you either have terrible arguments or you're so blind as to what over population would mean. This is no joke, the more people in the world means more mouths to feed, more homes to build. Cities will continue to grow bigger, pollution will grow, global warming rates will continue to sky rocket. I don't understand why anyone would think this isn't a problem. Already there are large numbers of people who are homeless or damn struggling to make ends meat. A larger population means that limited resources would run scarce, even food production and farming would have trouble keeping up. The earth can only take so much.

Obviously It is?

People are irrational if they actually believe that our population of 7 billion is normal. Do you actually not understand that the sustainable limit for our planet is only 3 billion? We are over using our resources and it's sickening that people don't understand that. Start watching documentaries such as Water Wars, Food inc, Departures, Bag It and so on. You'll really get an insider as to how much we demand and expect from our planet.

Zero population growth needed

Stop habitat destruction. Increasing population very difficult to feed. More land cleared to farm and produce food and mining for resources and fuel. This leads to habitat destruction and in turn depletion and possible extinction of species. We use too many resources and use too much energy. We need renewable fuel sources.

Zero population growth needed

Stop habitat destruction. Increasing population very difficult to feed. More land cleared to farm and produce food and mining for resources and fuel. This leads to habitat destruction and in turn depletion and possible extinction of species. We use too many resources and use too much energy. We need renewable fuel sources.

Mass immigration, water shortage leading to war

Overpopulation is the the main reason for mass immigration which eventually will lead to violent conflicts. The fight for water is only at it's beginning. There is no such thing as water shortage, the planet has the same water resources as in the beginning of time. There is only too many users of water.

Its easy to add but difficult to maintain

Many people have a big family but don't know that we have a overpopulation problem. If you want a big family adopt children don't leave them hanging around the streets. They have no family and cant afford any resources. Studies show that the bigger your family the worse you do in school so having a family of 4 or 5 is enough.

Overpopulation is not a myth

Overpopulation occurs when a population of a species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. Overpopulation is a function of the number of individuals compared to the relevant resources, such as the water and essential nutrients they need to survive. It is reality as the population increases our resources decrease, the Earth will not be able to sustain a population of 9 billion, there is no way we can tap into these resources without furthering climate change.

Everyone can save the world!

Overpopulation is a global crisis because it is happening all over the world. Some may say it's just some countries whose mothers want to have many children, but no it is everywhere and these people add up one by one to make a huge population causing overpopulation. This issue is a global crisis and we need to do something about it!

Open your eyes

No one wants to live in a world where there is people jammed into cities with little space. Yes there is a lot of space but the tendency is for people to move to the cities.It is not simply about the space needed for humans but the support space. Already we have seen the worlds forests decline from 21% of the land surface to 14%. There are many more examples of environmental degrading needed to support the increase numbers of humans.Additionally we cannot cope as it is as evidenced by the large number of people living in poverty. To simply increase the population further will lead to more poverty and more environmental destruction.

Open your eyes. This is a problem.

As it is scientists say that we own 5 acres of land per person. Every 15 years 1 billion people are said to be added to the population. That will minimize the amount of land per person. If people don't open their eyes soon enough, then a disaster will strike. How can we stop this? The bible states that there will be a world war three. Now, im not religious but i do believe that once the government finally sees the problem that they'll try and cover it up. Eventually, they'll do one of the only things they're good at: war. Overpopulation, I do believe, will be the cause of the inevitable WWIII. Can we prevent it? Not unless we pass some rules, like in china, about the amount of children people are allowed to have. I, being only 13, can see that this is the start of a whole-world-crisis. You'll probably say that i don't understand, and that I'm just a little girl who doesn't know anything. That's wrong. You know whats going to happen, you just refuse to believe it. Overpopulation has already begun whether you want to believe it or not. We need to find a solution. Open your eyes and actually look around you. Stop living in a fantasy world where there are no problems. THIS IS A PROBLEM. It's happening. Only by putting our heads together, thats everyone including us 13 year olds, can we solve this problem. I have more to say on this topic but my comment is already long enough.

Open your eyes. This is a problem.

As it is scientists say that we own 5 acres of land per person. Every 15 years 1 billion people are said to be added to the population. That will minimize the amount of land per person. If people don't open their eyes soon enough, then a disaster will strike. How can we stop this? The bible states that there will be a world war three. Now, im not religious but i do believe that once the government finally sees the problem that they'll try and cover it up. Eventually, they'll do one of the only things they're good at: war. Overpopulation, I do believe, will be the cause of the inevitable WWIII. Can we prevent it? Not unless we pass some rules, like in china, about the amount of children people are allowed to have. I, being only 13, can see that this is the start of a whole-world-crisis. You'll probably say that i don't understand, and that I'm just a little girl who doesn't know anything. That's wrong. You know whats going to happen, you just refuse to believe it. Overpopulation has already begun whether you want to believe it or not. We need to find a solution. Open your eyes and actually look around you. Stop living in a fantasy world where there are no problems. THIS IS A PROBLEM. It's happening. Only by putting our heads together, thats everyone including us 13 year olds, can we solve this problem. I have more to say on this topic but my comment is already long enough.

Yes, yes it is.

We have already went passed the point. 7.1 billion people on one planet is mind-boggling. Overpopulation leads to faster resource depletion, more carbon, more demand for food and water, and so many other problems that would be very hard to fix. We need to stop before it all goes to hell.

Overpopulation is a global crisis

First, let's dissect the terms. "Overpopulation" of any species is defined as when the population of the species exceeds the "carrying capacity" of its environment. In this case, we as humans are the species, and Earth is our environment. "Global Crisis" is defined as any type of event that could pose a risk to destroy or cripple human civilization, cause human extinction, or cause the end of the Earth. Now is human overpopulation a global crisis? Most definitely so.

Estimates of the carrying capacity of the Earth at its current conditions go from as low as from around 4 billion people to 16 billion people. If we consider the first estimate, we would technically already have overpopulated the earth--but even if we were to use the second number as our definition of carrying capacity of the human species on Earth, we'd have to consider the alarming growth of the human population. From the beginning of human history to around the mid-1800s was when the human population managed to reach 1 billion people. Yet, in the last fifty or so years, we've gone from around 4 billion people to almost doubling our population as we're now fast approaching 8 million people since a quarter million babies are brought into the world everyday. And let's face it--not nearly enough people die each day to keep this balance, thus our population is constantly growing. If we continue at our current rate, in possibly less than a hundred years, we will have exceeded ANY estimates of the carrying capacity of Earth. With this overpopulation; there will be increases in waste, poverty, world hunger, contamination risks and a loss of all resources from agriculture and food to fossil fuels (which are only predicted to last another fifty years or so anyways). Would a loss of all resources and our environment not lead to the destruction or crippling of human civilization? Yes, obviously it would. And, unfortunately it is coming up quickly.

The next hundred years could be the last and this leads me to believe that overpopulation is definitely a global crisis. Many people might deny this or worse, ignore the topic but by doing so we really are just digging our own graves. The threat of human overpopulation has been predicted since the second century C.E. And United Nations and other organizations/governments might deny it because and only because they have no morally correct way to solve this giant problem. But denying that this issue is a problem is the worst. Taking a note from Dan Brown's Inferno; like Dante Alighieri once said, "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." The time is over for trying to ignore the metaphorical elephant in the room. We should be trying to find a solution to this problem simply because it is what decides the future survival of humankind.

Yes it is

Overpopulation is a problem. The birth rate in 2000 was 2%. If that birthrate kept up by 2050 there will be 9.2 billion people, by 2150 there will be 244 billion, and by 2300 there will be a population of 134 trillion people on our planet. I think it's a problem.

Overpopulation = Fewer Resources + Crime Rate

Overpopulation can cause too many people around and there will be more mouths to feed, and fewer resources. Water, food and shelter. The lack of water can cause poor hygiene and higher chance of a disease spread, as people infect others quickly due to living close proximity, again because of overpopulation. The country can’t provide enough land for each family to build shelter on and so people cramp together. Trash will soon pile up and trash will be everywhere because there is just not enough land to pile all that trash we are using everyday. Also dehydration and starvation because there are way too many mouths to feed. Also an increase on crime, due to fighting over resources, not just food and water, think about fuel, gas, wood, electricity, everything will be a resource, all the effects on that and will soon be chaos. There is just not enough jobs for everyone and high unemployment will also lead to an increase in the crime rate.

Is overpopulation a global crisis? Yes it is

Because, technology may not evolve leaving us where we are. With research, the human population has doubled every 25 - 50 years for the last about200 years. So the will be more and more people with nowhere to go. So basically think of it like this: there are two people on a island. On the island there is fresh, drinkable water and fruit trees. The island isn't very big but it is 10,000 square feet. After a couple hundred years there about 5,000 people. It is too crowded and there is not enough supplies to make a boat or even enough food to keep everyone alive....

Over population is evil

Over population is terrible it is harmful to the environment and will one day use up all our resources. People should stop it now or kids futures will be ruined. Our earth can not hold so many people. People are also ruining the beautiful nature of Mother Earth. So please help the earth!

Resources are scarce

Increase in poverty in the LDC's, lack of resources like water,air,food due to the fact that we as humans have abused them to the max!!....People have to be educated on the dangers of having many kids We also have global warming that causes natural disasters....Time to take a stand!!! Please

Overpopulation is reality

The population is increasing every second, the growth rate is soaring. We are continuing to reproduce on our own will and this is damaging the environment also. More people means more cars more factories, more food. If you think about it the higher the population the higher the need for resources that are beginning to run out right now. Lets not forget that animals are also reproducing quickly, they need food and water too. However because of our high population we are lowering the amount of food and water which not only affects us but also animals. We are destroying habitats of animals all around the world for our needs. We are not only risking our lives but also other animals and plants. We need to accept that we are not the only animals on the Earth and we need to slow our population rate to help us and the other animals.

Yes we need to stop

Australia has the highest amount of refugees and asylum seekers. Australia has taken in about 700,000 refugees since the world war 2. Many people prefer to move to developed countries like US, UK, Canada and Australia where best facilities are available in terms of medical, education, security and employment. But this needs to stop Australia should provide other countries with these facilities. The government needs to rethink this issue

The etchical question I would like answered etc

What is ethically more wrong, not having a child if you cannot support it for whatever reason, or bringing children into a world of suffering by choice? Most of you people out there have no idea how depleted the natural resources out there really are. You keep throwing around these ''we can feed 10 billion people'' phrase. Who cares. Over-population is a get richer for the rich and a decline for everyone else. Yes, people might be living lives of higher standards all over the world, but wages are dropping all over the world and the gap between rish & poor is increasing. Don't think tommorrow or yesterday, think 50 and a hundred years from now. Do we want our children and grand children caught up in a even faster paced rat-race then we are in at the moment?A couple of gold fish in a fish bowl have more sense than most humans. At least they settle into an equilibrium with their environment.

People don't grow food to give away. It's the reality. Inequality, poverty etc. has been around for thousands of years, and will be for many to come. Sorting it out is lala-land talk. Come back to reality and realistic objectives like a decrease in the population. Even those who are rich should not breed like rats, because they add to consumption just like any other shmuck on this planet. Production = consumption. They say a billion people who don't have enough to eat is because of mis-management. How is that? I would like someone to explain that to me. People can either buy food or they can't. If people can pay for food or anything else for that matter, there will be someone who will sell it. It's a supply and demand world we live in.

Shall we just continue until there are no forests left in the world? Look at the size of the Amazon and the Congo. Will the total destruction of those be enough or shall we loose many more animal species and more natural water sources first? Fishing companies and pollution will have decreased the fish population in the sea by 90% by 2050, mostly to feed Asian countries due to the lack of other meat sources and their incredibly large populations.

To many people

There are to many people in the world to feed, give clothing, give homes and most importantly space. Every human needs space, we need to decrease it by not giving any cure to make people live longer. If this keeps going on, there might not be any more food or clothing for anyone.

Exponential Growth = Exponential Problem

The world cannot support a population growing at such a rapid rate. The finite resources and increasing industrialization will strain the Earth to it's breaking point. Think of it as a Jenga tower. The more we add the more unstable it becomes until eventually, it will all come crashing down.

I believe it is time to show if we are capable of being more than eating and reproducing machines.

Humans place themselves at the top of the animal tree. But why? Do we not just consume and multiply without any consideration for the future. How are we different?The only way to prove we can be, would do predict the future. To act now to avert the inevitable famine, war, disease, and simple lowering of living standards that await us all in an overpopulated world. The earth cannot support an unlimited amount of people. It is that simple.

Surplus children become slave labor

It should be obvious that lack of education creates the inability to do resource planning, provide health care, and organize labor forces, encouraging third world countries to produce indiscriminately to replace those children lost in order to use them for labor, or sell them in trafficking.

Education and technology can end this cycle of poverty that creates expendable humans, and human birth control can prevent the stress on environmental resources. Permaculture can provide sustainable food supplies to end the feast and famine that has been so much of the human experience with seasonal food supplies. Ending poverty, and sharing harvests may be the only way for humans to survive sustainably.

Just go look up resources from your search engine

Even if we are not in the state of overpopulation, we know that human population is increasing dramatically like insects. If this population curve would have to continue for years, we would have problem with pollution, resource, and crowdedness. People say we have land of resource available currently but if we run out of this "resource", wouldn't it be a crisis? Also, if we have many people, it is obvious that there will be more pollution. If the Earth becomes a naked polluted planet, there is no turn-back in the human race.

Babies Having Babies

The world is going to run out of fresh water, food and recourses, and with more teens having children at a young age, they're more likely to keep having kids as they get older. Food is going to become scarse, I believe Overpopulation is going to become more of a problem within the next 10 years

The World is Overpopulated

I believe the world is overpopulated, especially some of the eastern countries. Some people might say that there is enough land for more people, but will there be enough resources to support them?

Overpopulation has brought us to the conclusion of altering the genes/DNA of vegetables and livestock for a larger gross outcome for a obvious reason; shortage. Yet alone this is not all; there are thousands of people dying of hunger all over the world, there is a shortage of fresh water, and much more that I cannot think of on the spot.

I believe there should be a law or whatsoever to control this crisis. Each country should have their own respective population limit based on how big the country is. This way the population of the country can be controlled.

I know this might sound immoral and might create further issues, but families this way can be told how many offspring to produce to maintain or increase its population. Whatsoever, there should be counteractive measures taken to combat these issues.

Putting strain on the whole world

I think that just because there are a few more people in some country, shipping could also be affected. Maybe if one country does not have the supplies to give another country then the country will not get what they need. The whole world is running out of resources. It is definitely a global issue

Many countries in the world are facing a problem, which is becoming an issue and growing every day.

With the increasing population, there has been a huge demand for housing for accommodating immigrants, and new buyers. This has created a shortage in housing and housing supplies. Also, as the demand for housing increases, the prices increase as well, and this may turn off some people. This may cause substandard housing, and homelessness. This begins to affect the poorest areas of the countries, because more people cannot afford housing. It is estimated that the housing requirements will double or triple in the near future. Since housing materials will be hard to find, scrap materials will be used, and they are cheaper and less durable materials. This causes the houses to be less weather resistant, but cheaper. Currently there are over 100 million homeless people in the world. Housing and development has also destroyed millions of forests, farmland and freshwater. Drainage and waterways are now being used as housing for some people, due to the high demand. Large quantities of water are being reduced for construction.

Crime from overpopulation.

Overpopulation is leading to unemployment which will lead to stealing. People will have to teal in order to survive. It will also lead to violence and people will gat hurt. There are many places that are overpopulated and have low standard of livings. People will keep growing and the world will be overpopulated.

Not enough gold

Theres not enough of anything to support a massive "herd" of peoples. Food. Resources. Gold/money you simply can expect us to go on this way, every angle you look at it we loose. We are going to burn ourselves out one day and take the world with us. The population skyrocketed the last 100 years whats gonna happen in 100 200 or 300 hundred years from now?

We need birth control

Everyone is still popping out babies and they do not believe in birth control, which is the main root cause of this problem. Most families of America believe in having about lets say 4-6 children. Why? They say that "god" told them too. We need to exterminate people like that.

Humanity's End if We Do Nothing

I have the weirdest hobby in the world: I am obsessed with watching a particular race. And by that I mean the on going race between the world wide collapse of civilization verses the ever emerging technologies that are trying to prevent it. Over population is the root of most of our global problems and it will only get worse. We need to have responsible childbirths which mean women have total control over their own bodies. That means a woman only gets pregnant when and if she decides to get pregnant and not a moment sooner! To the men of this world I say to you that we have ruled this planet with an iron fist and we have ruined everything. Maybe it’s time to let women take over and run things!

7 bilion people now

Their are 7 billion people now and counting, their was 3 billion people in the year 1978 and now 7 billion in 2013 we will all suffer a horrible we will start feeding off humans because their will be no where to grow crops. We are trying to move to another planet like mars which is over a year away from earth by space shuttle. Sorry about the bad news but I guarantee you it is going to happen.

Shortage of resources and pollution

When there is over population, there will be so much competition for resources causing there to be a shortage of them. Eventually there will be very little for us to use which will cause difficulty in getting access to those resources. Also, over population will result in more and more pollution which will not only affect the environment but also affect human beings and animals that depend on them.

The world is dying because of overpopulation

Even the most dense countries have a rising population, and whether it will be overcrowded or not is only a matter of time. When the population grows, it causes inadequate supply of resources, social problems and also harms to the environment. What the world is going to do is sex education to countries like India or China, but no, no one is ever going to tell the Europeans that they need to stop having sex without protection. It is a global problem, because statistics show that there is an increasing trend for all the continents in the world other than Antarctica. So yes, people, the world is going to be overcrowded and we will be suffocated by the number of people in the world that is hitting the roof. The Earth is small. We can't allow that much people in the world. Overpopulation is not calculated only by districts, it is by the average population distributed over the globe and the results are negative. We cannot accommodate too many people in the world and we need to solve the problem. It is global.

The less the Merrier

I'm going to start of with a popular saying: "the more the merrier" now is that really true. Lets say that you have 100 people in your house would you be celebrating no you will be suffocating. The human population is ridiculous in japan they have people in train stations that pushes people in the train when they can barley fit in the door they latterly pack people in and you think New York's subways are bad. In other countries people have cars and their plates have ether an odd number or an even number and on some days only people with even numbers can drive their car and on the next day only the cars with odd numbers can drive. So I think over population is a global crisis.

Yes it is

It definitely is a major problem. The rate at which global population is increasing is crazy and even then uneducated people continue to make bigger families because they aren't aware of the situation so yes definitely global overpopulation is major problem. We have to act now or it will be too late. Educate everyone and see the change.

Yes It is

It is a problem because we are getting closer and closer to exceding our limit. There are only so many people the earth can cary and if we have to many we will easly run out of food, shelter and so on. I'm not saying that we need a plague or anything of that kind to happen, we all just need to be more aware of what can happen if we don't talk about this problem now.

Over population is a crisis!

Overpopulation is a crisis because with growing populations there would be a need for more land and food production, which means deforestation that endangers many species, and the creating of an urban area causes pollution and infects bodies of water and the soil from where animals/plants live. Usually, making fish and other animals diseased and unfit to consume. Another thing, women should not be having five children if you do not have the proper living conditions for them, like you can't live off of welfare because you decided to have eight children which you can't maintain because your not helping them youre hurting them by bringing them to a world where they would suffer from poor hygenic conditions and denutrition. You might love them but why would you create a family when you so clearly can't even buy mcdonalds.

Overpopulation is a issue

Anyone who thinks that it isnt an issue is seriously behind times! Economies are falling drastically due to excess amount of people that a country can look after. Earth has its own carrying capacity!!! And we are way beyond it! Cities and towns are becoming more and more overpopulated by the day!

Our world is going down the drain.

Overpopulation will greatly affect the world, in the future. Without constricting the amount of resources we use, the world will be in grave danger. In about one hundred years we won't have any place for the children to live, or any resources for them to use. Everybody needs to acknowledge the problem that is looming in their near future.

Yes, it puts a stress on fossil fuels and natural resources

If there would not have been over population the fossil fuels and natural resources would have been used by a less number of people and would surely last for a longer period of time and due to increased availability the prices would not had soared up like today they are. Pollution would also be in control

Of course it is

Political Speech1/3 of the population growth in the world is the result of incidental or unwanted pregnancies. It's just a matter of time, the world in all of its hugeness, will one day become overpopulated, and when that day comes who will save us from ourselves? Without drastic changes there will not be sufficient resources to provide people with basic human needs such as water, food, energy and shelter. As the years have gone by and the population has increased, the world is becoming more and more unsustainable for the future.

Its self evident

The fact of the matter is that their are only so many finite resources our planet has. I also understand that yes their are better ways we can be using these resources but at the moment we haven't installed any plan of action to lessen our impact on the world and as the population grow out of control we deplete the resources that we need the most to survive. Population growth has already caused the extinction of numerous amounts of species and we're also seeing the effects of it today in our third world countries. Children dying everyday due to the lack of nutrition and people living in poverty, starving living on the bare essentials. Third world countries are a prime example of the effect of overpopulation. Something need to be done before things get out of hand.

Too many people

Everyone wants to save something; the whales, the oceans, the rivers, the animals, the trees. There is a cause a minute. If the population continues to increase all of these precious natural resources will be gone and at this rate, in a very short time. The only way we will be able to "save" and preserve anything on Earth is to stop pro-creating. Or, on the darker side, to have a massive plague wipe out a huge percentage of the current human population.

Yes, it is...

... Because our huge global footprint depends on it. We are too "heavy" as we are too many. No one would never talk about to reduce consumption of natural resources if we just were 1 billion. Too many people means to destroy forests and topsoil, deplete acquifers, cause global warming and climate change. No one in the whole world can feel safe against this threath. We are already getting the effects. Either we reduce population, or Earth will.

Overpopulation is a massive Global Crisis

Overpopulation is a massive global crisis because too many people in the world means less food, water, money, land, shelter, jobs, clothes, technology and everything else that is essential for people. Some countries are poor enough already without more and more people coming in to them needing what there is limited supplies if anyway.

The problem isn't the number of people, it is our ability to manage it fast enough...

A global crisis...Yes of course it's a global crisis. Not to say that it will DEFINITELY lead to the end of the world, however the possibility of this is undeniable and the probability of it is high IF we as a population cannot create solutions that do not yet exist.

Most arguments pertaining to overpopulation being overrated seem to rely most heavily on the premise that we will use future technology as a way to cope with the compounding numbers or that population growth will slow down naturally. Well actually neither of these claims are substantiated, and looking at the current and not too distant future trends - the growth over the next 50 years will be exponential and nothing that we can base our experience on. So how are we able to declare this as not being a global crisis? We have been provided with the facts and figures, however if we do not treat this as a 'global crisis', if we do not begin to develop plans to deal with the growing gap between humans and resources then this will unarguably become the world's biggest problem and by that point time will not be a luxury.

Over Population is a Worldwide Problem

The worst global issue is over population because every other problem is caused by humans. If there weren't so many people in the world, pollution wouldn't be nearly as big of a deal as it is. Neither would water pollution, or a list of other major economic issues. If something isn't done soon to stop over population, the world as we know it might one day cease to exist.

Too many people are on this planet

Our human nature always wants something more or better and most humans are never satisfied. The problem with the world today is that there are too many people, I believe, to live the best they could be. There is such a distance between people’s incomes and such differences in power between social classes. Compared to the entire population, there are only a few people that have way too much money and power over everyone else. As we continue to increase population on the planet, the more poverty there will be. All of this ties into conflict theory. I believe that there is enough resources to go around to everybody on this planet, but the distribution of these resources is not equal. The Bourgeoisie (upper class) will always have the money and never do physical labour and the Proletariat (lower class) will always do all the work for little income. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Over population is always going to be a problem because people don’t seem to understand what it means to have a world that is overpopulated. There needs to be more awareness and education on this issue, because it’s becoming a serious problem that is increasing every second. We should all do our part to help reduce the birth rate, and while some people will not agree with this, or not believe in birth control, maybe they should look at the numbers. By the year 2050, the earth will have at least 10.9 billion people. If the Earth does get overpopulated we will all fight for resources and everyone will get those resources. The most probable thing is that people will die from famine, starvation, and drought.

We are a virus

Maths is all you need. Take the old chessboard view ' add a grain of rice and double it' and we are heading to a point that will meet with disaster. Just glad I'm not a child today to face what's coming for them. There is an answer, but no one wants to listen to it.

It is terrible around the world!

I think the world has overpopulated areas. Natural resources will become scarce because there will not be enough. I asked people what they have thought and some have said only two kids per family. Others have said birth control. I think both are reasonable answers but birth control is smarter and better for you.

Too many people equals more use of the already depleting natural resources

The world is quickly running out of natural resources. The farmers in the USA feed a large chunk of the world, yet the water source that they depend on for their crops is running low. The economies of the world have been suffering in major ways because of the amount of people who need a job, yet very little companies are able to provide them with a job because of the abundance of people who need a job.

Killing off other species

We are in the midst of one of the largest extinctions since the dinosaurs. With more people on the planet, the more space in which we take up. We force other species out of their homes and kill off their food sources. We can not keep breeding like this. If we continue to overpopulate the planet, we will be the only species left!

Major general reading

Our planet has a finite amount of resources starting with potable water and our ability to dispose of the waste we produce. We are quickly moving toward a 9 billion world population the majority of the growth in countries that can not provide for that growth. While I will not be around to see this explosive growth I am fearful for my grandson.

A global problem

I consider the overpopulation as a global issue, because the rapid speed of increasing the amount of people all over the world can cause to insufficient of resources, like for instance food, water, place, ground. Population of India is increasing now, and in some years this country can be first by the populace.

The United Kingdom alone has a population density of 661.9 per sq. Mile. If you took the entire population of the Earth and put them on North America, the population density would only be approximately 743 per sq. Mile, which is smaller than the population density of Hong Kong.

Last time I looked the entire world could live comfortably within the borders of the State of Texas, and America provides 30% of the worlds food while only using 10% of it's available land for farming. So if we can house the whole world in Texas and feed it solely with the land in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, I don't think too many people are the problem. I think too many under educated, untrained people who are allowed to vote are the problem.

The Earth is a powerful organism that has great controls over all of nature. We are part of nature, and I believe that if we ever get to the point where the Earth cannot handle our population, then it will operate in a means necessary to get rid of some or all of us. We can see this in how quickly and easily the Earth is able to kill off many thousands of people by natural disaster in mere minutes.

Overpopulation is impossible. We die. We reproduce to our needs and environment. As a popluation gain better health and education, in turn this provides work and wealth. Not only does this consume time and effort but it negates the 'need' to have children. The average family now has 2.2 children which is barely enough to keep the population stable as, again I reiterate, we, as a species, die. If we somehow live for eternity then I would say there would be a problem. But we don't so there isn't.Those who say "Yes" to this answer are highly uneducated. This worries me and should worry you, too.

No, there's plenty of land for all...

Not at all. There have been plenty of studies that have proven we are not even close to global overpopulation. The amount of untapped resources is enough to sustain life for hundreds of years, barring any major catastrophic events. With the advancements of science and technology we will discover new ways to live and prosper, to ensure we have the resources and land we need for the future.

Overpopulation is not a global crisis since overpopulation is a myth.

The belief that the world is overpopulated is a simple myth. There are many areas of the world that have little or no human habitation. The entire population of the world could be fit in a space significantly smaller than the United States of America. Even when you add the extra space required for growing food and other resources there is still plenty of global land mass that would stand fallow.

Overpopulation means destruction of the earth.

Population is growing means more requirements of land for agriculture and for homes,already we have destructed 65% of forest,and whatever has been left ,it will be also finished due to large population, and if forest disappear means pollution ,which results in global warming .Which simply means "life will not possible on earth." by - rupak sahi

Overcrowdedness is the issue

If we were all to "spread out" this wouldn't be such an issue...Come on, the US alone uses 30% of the world's natural resources so its no surprise that China or India along with many other countries are suffering... We could all cut back and perhaps reuse, recycle and restore. We need to be a more sharing society and than overpopulation wouldn't be such a major hot topic.

Issue is distribution of resources, not overpopulation

The earth does have its issues, due mainly to the lack of responsible use and protection of it by humans. The issue is not therefore of too many human beings, but the irresponsible use and distribution of the abundant available resources. How do we fix that? That's a moral and spiritual question. I believe if we submit to the Intelligent Designer/Creator, we would be more than blessed to welcome new beautiful humans on the earth.

Population decline

On a macroscopic level world population growth has been in a steady decline for the past 50 years. On a local level, growth is basically an urban phenomenon with 67% of countries on the African continent accounting for a vast majority of the growth on a national level. The affulent countries of Europe and elsewhere are actually facing a population crisis as a result of low birth rates with all of the attendant social issues that threaten the social order. Overpopulation has been one of those enduring topics, that in spite of the evidence, tends to linger in the imagination...

Overpopulation is a localized issue with a global solution

There are nation states such as Bangladesh and Egypt that will need to cope with the consequences of over population in the near term, along with other countries with looming demands on available resources within the medium term. An economical and reliable source of food stuffs will remain the priority. However, all said, the average population density per square Km of arable land in he world is still relatively low, and will remain so indefinitely. The real crisis is a political one. In other words as long as the 1st world sees a benefit to assisting 3rd world countries with their sustainability challenges in a timely manner, the global community will evolve accordingly.

It's not overpopulation but the allocation of resources

Overpopulation is not the real problem but the few are keeping and destroying the resources of the earth faster than any rural community. If it was overpopulation then Japan will be starving by now but they're among the wealthiest of societies. The problem is lack of technology for self-sustainability and resources. Humans have never lived by natural means but they have always engineer their community to accommodate their needs.

Keep an open mind

People need to be more open minded, its called sharing, some people are just to stubborn and claim everything they lay there eyes on. We have so much room, instead of waisting our tax money to build a moving tree for "art" we could use that money to build a whole community or even a part of it.

Resource distribution is the main problem.

The carrying capacity of Earth varies between extremes. It ranges between 100 million, 500 million, 1 billion, 2 billion, 4-7 billion, 8 billion, 10-12 billion, to as high as 20-30 billion. The median and average estimates fall between 10-12 billion. We DO have an excess of available resources. Of course, because of business interests, political machines, patents, GMOs, economic hitmen, bribes, sheeple, etc. There are no incentives to provide for all 7.2 billion right now, enabling any short-minded person to call the world 6 billion overshot. Not everyone wants to act like a spoiled brat who lives in an over-sized house with 4 SUVs while watering a lawn during a mass heat wave.

Famines, plagues, and wars are not caused by overpopulation.

People who worry about overpopulation say a high population will cause famine, plague, and war. But these things existed even when the population was small. A large population is the result of good living conditions for mankind: when food is plentiful and diseases are managed, the population rises. Bioterrorism, genocide, destruction of the food supply, dysfunctional families, and a totalitarian government that dictates exactly how many children each person has, are the only things I can think of that would lower the population. I believe that people who try to control the population create misery.

Famines, plagues, and wars are not caused by overpopulation.

People who worry about overpopulation say a high population will cause famine, plague, and war. But these things existed even when the population was small. A large population is the result of good living conditions for mankind: when food is plentiful and diseases are managed, the population rises. Bioterrorism, genocide, destruction of the food supply, dysfunctional families, and a totalitarian government that dictates exactly how many children each person has, are the only things I can think of that would lower the population. I believe that people who try to control the population create misery.

It is a myth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_CxJfFgh0

http://pop.org/content/debunking-myth-overpopulation

It is based on the wrong calculations of the British scholar Thomas Malthus, whose predictions of doom for humanity failed every time. Even the World Food Programme of the UN does not say that overpopulatoin is a cause of hunger, but conflicts, natural disasters, poverty, over-exploitation of the environment, and poor agricultural infrastructure. And of course, you cannot solve poverty by eliminating people. Wealth is created by work, which only people can do.

Overpopulation make for a great movie...

But that is all it is - entertainment. We continue to find new resources and develop our technologies to always improve our efficiency in growing food and living in more and more densely populated cities. We are not in a crisis and will not. Be in a crisis because of overpopulation. Tyranny is a greater concern for the human race than more people.

While developing countries or stage 2 countries have many children due do un-empowered women, sickness, and needed help for survival they are slowly but surly getting stronger, when you get to stage 4 (above the Brandt Line including Japan and Australia) Countries like Europe and Japan have birth rates that are decreasing, they are not having enough children to replace themselves! (This will lead to a whole bunch of problems when the current working class is in retirement) There are 7 billion people in the world (as of 2 years ago) the largest population world has ever seen! It would be expected to reach 14 billion in 50 years but things are changing (women are becoming empowered in less developed countries- people are moving into cities and having less children) Therefore the world is not likely to ever reach 14 billion and overpopulation is not a global crisis!

People should be able to handle and take care the earth and how its structured.....

Because the world is like a baby, it takes time for it to grow and develop into a full mature adult just like the world has to grow and develop into a mature "adult". It has enough room for people to live in it even if people have to live with each other.

Its a simple question of unsustainable consumption patterns and hegemony

Overpopulation is based on the assumption that the earth cannot support the growing populations but a closer look shows that the numbers that are difficult to sustain are not the poorer majority of the world but the increase in the consumerist numbers of the developed world especially America. If 1 billion people lived in the world with American levels of affluence and consumption then the world would be overpopulated. We need more better technologies to reduce our impact on the environment and reconsider our consumption patterns to save the world.

Simply no, people are just scared if there are more people they will have less ( load of rubbish)

In terms of living space nobody can argue we have plenty of that. Resources could become tight in the future but we will evolve as always to adapt to that, things such as vertical agricultural farming have already begun. The biggest change however which would stop any kind of famine or drought is when we stop using money and hoarding resources for ourselves. We could end all that right now even if we sent africa even 10% of the food we dont eat because most of it ends up in the bin anyway. Keep in mind money is a man made thing, its only paper not real

The numbers are going down and will still go down as people continue to die.

We al shouldn't be afraid about overpopulation. Even without much water, you would still die someday. It doesn't really matter how many resources there are, Why don't we cult low on meat or stop drinking gallons of water. Us that say no, it really isn't. Overpopulation is a myth. It doesn't matter to me.

Bad distribution of resources

The main reason we are encountering this "overpopulation" issue is because we haven't been using our resources well. Countries like Africa aren't suffering because they're overpopulated or financially unstable, it's simply because they don't know how to use their resources. In reality, Africa is actually very rich in resources and if used correctly could benefit the country immensely.

Based on Scientific evidence, world population is expected to plateau.

A study by the United Nations shows that world population is expected to plateau, not grow exponentially, between 9 and 11 billion. There are no recent scientific studies showing on the contrary that world population is expected to grow exponentially in the future as it has in the past 30-40 years. Therefore, overpopulation is not a global crisis, sustainability is.

Overpopulation is not a global crisis – man’s ego is

Over-population becomes a problem when mankind feeds the ego. Humans are selfish and unless mankind steps down from the selfish desires of having more resources than useable for the individual person, we will face catastrophe.

Man’s greed is the problem.

Mankind has the capability to sustain itself on a 10th of the resources we use now. We have the technology to fuel cars using water, which, I might add, covers 71% of the surface of our planet. We have the technology to cure cancer with food. We have the technology to reduce the need for nonrenewable resources.

You might be thinking, why haven’t we initiated these activities? This question can be answered in one word: GREED. We do not fuel cars on water because the oil companies would go out of business. We do not cure cancer with food because the drug companies would go out of business. People are paid millions of dollars to keep quiet. And you ask the question, why would these companies prefer this over the alternative of a more healthy planet and people.. MONEY.

Again, overpopulation is not the problem. Overpopulation will not lead to crisis. Mankind’s greed and love of money will. The number of people on the planet in our near future will not be the problem, the people’s greed will.

We can’t know what’s going to happen; we have to live with uncertainty. When we think about the possibility of running out of resources to sustain life, we should feel a bit of fear. We are in danger, all of us- not from overpopulation, but from ourselves. And we’ve evolved to respond to danger with fear, a powerful response. If we wait until the crisis is at hand, we may panic and hide. However, if we plan know and plan true; we will realize that we have nothing to fear, but fear itself. If we get this right it could be the beginning of civilization instead of the end. There are certainly no economic or technical briers in the way. What we need is a plan. We can transform our economy. With proven technology, at an affordable cost, with existing structures; we just need to change how we think and how we feel. We have achieved remarkable things- the earth can support billions of people. We can do what we need to do, but it will take every one of us. It is time to stop thinking about ourselves, our personal future. This could be our finest hour.

Over population is not the only thing at work. Also with increase, there must be an eventual decrease.

Over population is not the only problem. It also includes poor distribution of resources, as well as a fewer habitable places. So since there aren't many places for people to live, it makes it harder to fit people in certain places. Over population coupled with the lack of habitable places makes the situation much worse. However, the population is getting much older and since the elderly make up a lot of the population, that means that the overall population may eventually decline, so there may not be as much to worry about. Also with the technology we have we should be able to accommodate the growing population.

It is not

Overpopulation is not yet a global crisis because even though there are billion people in the world now, the reason for the millions of poor, hungry, and malnourished people is not overpopulation, it is due to the failure of food distribution systems. With all the new technological advances, we are finding ways to beat the overpopulation meter, and we are beating it as of now. There are many countries such as the United States where people throw away enough food in a day to feed millions of hungry people. The reason for this is because the hungry people do not have the availability of food where they live, or they do not have the means to get the food. This can be the result of poverty, lack of transportation, and many other factors. But overpopulation is not yet a global crisis, and if we need to worry about something, it should be making everyone get the same access to food.

If anything we are underpopulated.

It is not about the sheer number of people. it is true we have more people then ever before but do we have as many as we should? We are running into problems as the baby boomers get older because the subsequent generations didn't have as many kids and so there aren't enough people to take care of them.

I do not feel it is a problem yet, because it has not yet reached a point where all cannot be provided for.

I am sure that, one day, it will become a problem. But, it isn't yet. We should be thinking about what would happen when we do reach a point in history when our population reaches that threshold. That threshold being the point when population is more than what we can produce in commodities.

Currently over population is not yet at critical levels because the world produces enough resources to provide for its 6 billion people, it's just that the resources are evenly distributed.

The USA consumes about 40-50% of the world's resources annually, despite only having about 5% of its population. This means that the world currently produces enough resources for all its inhabitants. However, the problem is that these resources aren't evenly distributed which is why there is rampant poverty in certain areas of the world. Over population isn't a problem currently (with only 6 billion people), resource distribution is the problem.

I do not believe overpopulation is a global crisis yet, because there are still many areas that can be cultivated and used more efficiently.

Overpopulation is definitely a concern in many areas of the world, but I do not believe it is a global crisis as yet. There are many area that can be used more efficiently by diverting water to or from them and making better use of the land and resources we have available.